Grease retainer



Sept. 15, 1925, 1,553,767

' B. E. FULTON ('/RBASE RETAINER Filed OG'. 27, 1924 fi. E: Fw. Ta/v. INVENTOR.

www

ATTORNEY i hand .Ford automobiles. f

4 tion to cars of that make.

PatentedY sept. 15, v1925.y i

@UNITEDSTATES:

,PATENT oFFic-E.

ismririris.Y FULTON, or LINCOLN, NEBRASKA GREASE RETAINER.

n Apiication sied october 27, 1924. serial No. 746,132.

T 0 'may concern.'

'Be it known that' I, RALPH E. FULTN, a

citizen of the United States", residing at Lin-V ,c'oln, inthe county-of Lancastery and vStateof Nebraska, havewinvented certain new and* useful 'Improvementsin `Grease Retainers,

of which the followingisa specification.

yMy invention relatesfto grease lretainers*l v which are designedmfor the purpose of preventing the leakage. ofL lubricants through:

the rearaxle bearings f automobiles.

In thefFord car particularly thisV trouble is very-common, nearly all cars of thismake developing the trouble very soon after they aieiput`into operation; The loss4 ofthe lubricant, the unsightly and` dangerous char acter of the grease on the garage fioor, and theV deteriorating effect of the greaseonfthe -tiresand'rubbe'r connections allV combine to make a" serious and expensive 'problem -of theleakage." `In brief, itis the object of my invention to. provide a grease retainer which willA effectively preventthe leakage ofthe j lubricant, `and which at` the sameY time Ycan. be manufactured and sold at suchva low figure as to be attractive to owners of second My invention wasvdesigned initially and e primarily for use on Ford automobiles and it will be described hereinafter in its rela- The construction and operation of the device are such as to adapt the Vdevice to other but similariuses `on shafting of various kinds.

Referring now to my drawings, Figure 1 is a view in section of my iiivention as 1t appears 'when 1n place in a Ford automobile.

Figure 2 is a view in perspective of my retainer sleeve. n e i Figure 3 is a plan view of my helical con-v veyor. n f Y My invention consists of the ytwo parts shown in Figures 2 and 3; The helical coil 10 isv made of any suitable material having 4the necessary resiliency, suchY as steel or.v

brass. Its internal diameter is such that it clamps tightly on the shaft 11, which in this instance is the rear axle of a Ford car. The coil 10 kgrips the shaft 11 rather tightly.

. Because of this gripping action, considerable thrust is required to force the coil along the shaft to itsproper position.` l For this reason I have. shortened the outer or end coil 10 as shown in Figure 3, such construction making it possible to easily position the helical ure 1.

coil o-ii the shaft or toreinoveit therefroinf The helical coil may be madefrom round havebeen employed with the purpose of conveying lubricant away from bearings, but soltar as I am aware all previous attempts haveV resulted iiifailure in practice unless provision were made for taking care of the vlubricantin the housing outside the pathu yof'the rotating coil.

The difhculty is occasionedby the fact that in the Ford automobile therear axlehousing 12- is provided with an inwardly projecting shoulder or reinforcement 13 which is secured to the housing by -means of rivets. This shoulder of course rrestricts the throat of the housingk and makes itdifticult to introduce an effective grease retainer. If the greaseretainer is made ina size to sweep the entire space Vbetweenthez shaft and the inner Vwalls yof the housing, it cannot be made to pass the shoulder 13 unless it is made of a yieldable material which materially increases the manufacturing cost.

I have, at very slight added cost, made t-he coil 10 effective by the use of the retainer Sleeve shown in Figure 2, the diniensions ofY which have a definite relation to Vthose of the coil 10 and of the housing 12 vwith its reinforcement 13. The purpose of the retainer sleeve is to reduce the housing in4k order to make the coil effective. It consists of va cylindrical portion 14 with an integral fiange 15. The diameter of the cylindrical kportion is such that the cylinder will snugly encase the coil 10 without bindping.v The external diameter of the flange 15 is preferably equal rto the internal diameter of the housing 12.v

The parts are assembled as shown in Fig- Either the retainer coil or the retainer sleeve may be inserted first and the other afterward. The fiange 15 will bear against the outer edge of the shoulder 13 and the coil should be so positioned that its l outer end 10a is just inside the planeof the flangel. f The roller bearing sleeve 16 and having other cross sectionalI ioo . `or three cars.

the roller bearings 17 should thenvbe placed in their usual positions.

The sweep of the coil 10 is entirely inside the sleeve 14 and all portions ofthe interior of the sleeve are reached bv the coil so that any grease which inds its way into the retainer sleeve is certain to be swept by the coil 10 toward the dilferential and away from the bearings 17. The flange 15 is clampedbet'ween the shoulder 13 and the bearings 17 with their sleeve 16 so that grease which is inside the housing but out-Y side the sleeve 14 is prevented frein reaching the bearings. The sleeve in el'ectis a reduced housing of such sizethat the coil 10 can be eective. y v

The device consists of only two parts of simple construction which can be made at very low cost. They can be inserted without making any changes or alterations in the shaft 11 or housing 12 or other parts of the automobile. rllhe insertionkof the device requires no special skill. Uien it is desired tov gain access to the interior of the housing the 1 device can readily be withdrawn.

retainer is subjected to no corrosive actiony and to little or no vwear, it will outlive two The grease which ordinarily leaks out through the bearings is sulicient in a very short period to pay for a pair vof the grease retainers which will absolutely prevent further loss of the grease.

Having thus rdescribed my invention in terms which will be vreadily understood by Its construction is all metal which 1 is not affected yby the oils and greases with kothersskilled in the art lto which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A grease retainer which is adapted for use on the rear axle of an automobile having a shoulder within the rear axle housing and roller bearings abutting against the shoulder, said grease retainer including a sleeve surrounding the rear axle but spaced therefrom, an annular outwardly projecting flange integral with said sleeve, said flange being adapted to be seated between the shoulder and the roller bearings to provide an oil tight joint therebetween, and means surrounding the axle and within said sleeve for transporting lubricant in a direction away from the roller bearings.

2. A grease retainer which is adapted for use on the rear axle of an automobile having a shoulder within the rear axle housing and roller bearings abutting against the shoulder, said grease. retainer including a sleeve surrounding the rear axle but spaced therefrom, an annular outwardly projecting flange'integral with said sleeve, said flange being adapted to be seated between the shoulder and the roller bearings and to make an oil tightjoint therebetween, and a spiral 4conveyer for transporting lubricant' in a direction away from the roller bearings,

said spiral conveyer being adapted to function throughout the entire space within said sleeve.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

' f iniLiDH E. FULTON. 

